Reducing food loss and waste is critical in ensuring more productive, resilient and low-emission food systems and driving climate action forward in the agriculture sector.

Climate change impacts agriculture and food production environmentally, economically and socially. At the same time, the food production system is a source of greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to climate change.

FAO estimates that, each year, approximately one-third of all food produced for human consumption in the world is lost or wasted. Without accounting for greenhouse gas emissions from land-use change, this is equivalent to an estimated carbon footprint of 3.3 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide and an estimated blue-water footprint of about 250 km3 (the annual water discharge of the Volga River). Actions to prevent, reduce, reuse and recycle food losses and waste are part of the solution to using water resources more effectively.

This video features the progress achieved by five initiatives over the last year in making agriculture more climate resilient. The sector is a priority area for climate change adaptation worldwide. SAVE FOOD is one of the cooperative Initiatives under the Global Climate Action Agenda and has brought the Food Loss and Waste challenge into the international climate arena.

Further resources

• FAOs work on climate change 2016 – SAVE FOOD is one of the eight actions on the ground: saving food and avoiding waste
• Coping with water scarcity in agriculture a global framework for action in a changing climate
• The State of Food and Agriculture - Climate change, agriculture and food security (PDF)
• SAVE FOOD and the Lima-Paris Action Agenda
• The Global Climate Action Agenda
• World Food Day 2016
• Food Loss and Waste Protocol
• World Food Day  2016 - Climate is changing, food and agriculture must too